Sprinkler head



F. P. BLAIR SPRINKLER HEAD Nov. 26, 1957 2 Sheets-fSheet 1 Filed Aug.26, 1955 m A l MJT m5... WPP! H Y B Nov. 26, 1957 F. P. BLAIR SPRINKLERHEAD 2 sheets-sheet 2 Filed Aug. 26.. 1953 [lOl A INVENTOR. FRANK E'BLAIR BY M,

fa/MW;

nited States 'Patent SPRINKLER HEAD Application August 2,6, 1953, SerialNo. 376,629

fClaims. (Cl. 299-48) The present invention relatesv in general tosprinkler headsl or nozzles for receiving fluid under pressure anddischarging the same as a spray. More particularly the invention relatesto. such sprinkler heads used for sprinkling gardens, lawns, and thelike where a square or other predetermined rectilinear spray pattern isdesired. In addition, various modifications. of' the invention iindutility in overhead tire protection sprinkler systems,A green houses,dishwashers, andmany other applications where a rectilinear spraypattern is desired.

Heretofore, repeated attempts have been made to achieve a squareor'rectangular spray pattern with lawn sprinklers, such attempts meetingwithv varying degrees of success. Inlawn sprinklers, and particularly inpermanent installations,y a square or rectangular distribution` patternis advantageous in that overlap is minimized and fewer sprinklers arerequiredto uniformly cover a given area. For fire protection sprinklersystems and other uses where a maximum, spray covering with minimizingoverlap is, sought, a rectilinear pattern` is, highly desirable.

Butf until the present invention, sprinklers4 purporting to Vachieverectangular patterns have either employed perforated heads, deflectionplates, reciprocating perforated, tubes, square oriiices, and the like.These. constructions have proved expensive, inaccurate,y andI oftenerratic in operation. s

Accordingly, it is, a principal objectA of this. invention to provide asimple, inexpensive,- sprinkler head having no, moving parts, and whichwill produce a predetermined,` evenly distributed, rectilinear spraypattern.

An additional object of the invention is tol provide a sprinkler head ornozzle construction which willV produce apredetermined rectilinearpatternirrespective of whether the sprinkler is used in, an upright,inverted, or tilted.

position. l

Further objects and advantages of the invention will beGOme apparent, asthe following description proceeds,

taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in

Which.:

Figure y1 is a perspective, View of a typical lawn sprinklerexemplifying the invention said; sprinkler beingl in operation andproducing aastplare` pattern.

Fig, 2,y is a, plan. View in, partial section of a sprinklerexemplifying the7 invention..

Fig. 3, isv a vertical full sectional, side view of the sprinkier,illustrated. in Fig., 2..

Fig. 4 is a perspective View 0f the internal control,y

ICC

Fig... 10 is an alternative construction of the control element shown inperspective in Fig. 4.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the internal control element shownsectioned in Figs. 8 and 12.

Fig. 12 is a full section of a sprinkler head such as that shown in Fig.7 but intended for upright use.

Referringl more speciiically to Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 5,I the invention isthere exemplified in an illustrative sprinkler 10 which in this caseiinds particular utility as a lawn sprinkler. Water under pressureobtainable from an ordinary household supply is fed to the sprinkler 10through a garden hose. AsV indicated in Fig.y 1, the sprinkler 1.0discharges the water in av spray having a rectilinear distributionpattern. In the present instance, this pattern is a Square. It has. beenfound in actual practice, by placingat,` pans at, diierent locationsunderneath the spray pattern, that a percent even distribution results.

In addition, it has been observed that when a twenty-fivey footsquare,pattern has been achieved, the edges of the. square pattern will varyapproximatelyy plus or minus, one-half a yfoot from a straight lineconnecting the effec-v tive corners of the pattern.

As, more fully shownin Figs. 2 and 3, the sprinkler lil. hasa hollowhousing 11 of substantially flatcylin-` drical configuration..

two half shell sections, here shown as an uppersection 12. and alower`section 14; The upper section 12 of thehousing- 11 is provided with aprincipal discharge orice 15 situated centrally thereof. Thedischargeend- Thehousing 1.1, an inlet 17 has beenV provided, of such a,

bore that ay conventional brass hose connector unit 18 canbe insertedtherein.y It is contemplated that the hose' connector unit 1S. will. becemented in place, anl inner flange 1.9 addditionally reinforcing itagainst outward disengagement'.

To provide a suitable ground'support for the sprinkler 14)., resort isha d'toay pair of feet 20. Each of the latter may. conveniently.A beformed from heavy gauge wire or light rodi bent to define an attachingeye 21 at its inboard end. andy a, rela-tively large loop 22 at itsoutboard end. Invthe present instance, the loops 22 may be oisetvertically from. the eye portions 21. The feet 20 are secured tothehousing 1,1' iny a manner which permits them to be adjusted forleveling of theV sprinkler lior, alternatively, collapsed toA aninactive position alongside the housing 11l permitting the sprinkler tobe compactly packaged as illustrated in, Fig,l 5.- In furtherance ofsuch objective, the. lower section i4v of the sprinkler housing 11 isfashioned, with a hollow internal boss 2,3 which carries a mounting bolt2 4; The latter is constrained against rotation` within the boss 23 andhas a threadedr stem 25y which projects from the face of the lowerhousing section 14. The eyes 2.1i.y of the supporting feet 20- t ontothe-stem' 25 andare retained there-on by means of a nut 2.6` and` lockwasher 27.

Provision is made for discharging. from a `single circular orificeaysprinkler a sprayy of water or other fluid having; anv uninterrupted:trajectory and making a rectilinear pattern of distribution on anunderlying receiving surface. This is accomplished by application of theingenious con-V cept offimparting 'a swirl tor one portion -of the fluidwithin the housing at a gir/.en instant and controlling the remainingportion of; ysuchfluid so as to modify this swirl; and. thusA alter infa predetermined manner the individual trajectories. ofk the dischargeddroplets of fluid. lSuch action is', meteoren., accomplished 'entirelyWithin the .sprinkler housing, and without resort to moving parts,

. Patented4 Nov. 26, 1957` For ease in manufacture out of` plastic, ormetal, thehousing 11 may be assembled from,A

by a novel disposition of swirl jet defining means and control jetdefining means.

Accordingly, in the particular embodiment of the invention disclosedherein, the housing 11 has mounted therein `a control element 28 ofdisc-like form (Fig. 4). The element 28 is rigidly mounted within thehousing as by being clamped between the upper and lower sections 12, 14after the manner shown in lFig. 3. By reason of such arrangement, theelement 28 defines -in one portion of the housing a supply cham'ber orpassage 29 communicating with the fluid inlet 17, 'and :defines inanother portion of the housing a swirl chanrber 30 `communicatingdirectly with the discharge orifice 15. 'For the purpose of imparting aswirl to the uid entering the swirl chamber, the control element 28 hasat or adjacent its periphery a suitable swirl jet defining means. vInthis case, the swirl jet defining means comprises a plurality of helicalpassages 31. For convenience and economy in manufacture, these passages31 may be formed by cutting a number of substantially square threads inthe periphery of the control element. However, the swirl jets may alsobe defined by slightly different forms of passages in the controlelement or the housing and disposed in tangential or angular relation tothe swirl cham-ber 30, as in the control element 28b shown in Fig. 10.

In order to deiine the control jets for modifying the swirl producedwithin the chamber 30, the element 28 has a plurality of control jetpassages 32. These passages communicate 'between the supply chamber 29and the swirl chamber 30 and are situated in radially spaced relationwith respect to the axis of the discharge orifice 15 and the lateralextremities of the swirl chamber 30. In addition, the passages 32 yarearranged in circumferentially spaced relation about the axis of thedischarge orifice so as to define a geometric gure having substantiallythe same shape as the pattern of distribution to be effected fby thesprinkler. lSince the sprinkler is arranged in this particular case toproduce a square pattern, the control jet passages 32 are arranged in asquare about the axis of the discharge orifice. While a certain degreeof tolerance may exist insofar as the axial dispositions of the controljet passages 32 are concerned, it has been found to be satisfactory ifthe passages 32 are disposed to direct their control jets ttransverselyof the swirl produced in the chamber 30 by the swirl passages 31.

-In operation of the sprinkler 10, it will be appreciated that as thefluid to be sprayed enters the sprinkler :from the inlet 17 into thesupply chamber 29, it will immediately 4begin to swirl, even in thesupply chamber, as it must depart .from that chamber with a 'whirlingaction. An `additional swirling action augmenting the initial swirl isimparted to the fluid as it passes from the supply chamber 29 into theswirl chamber 30 through the swirl jet passages 31. In this connection,it will 'be observed that the swirl chamber 3i) attenuates in height as-it approaches the discharge orifice 15, due in this case to the conicalconfiguration of the upper face of the control element 28. Naturally, asthere is but a single outlet in the sprinkler housing 11, the uid in thesupply and swirl chambers 29, 30 Iseeks to escape through the centralspray orifice 15.

As the swirling fluid in the chamber 30 begins to Imigrate centrallytoward the discharge orifice 15, a critical point in the hydraulicaction is reached. It is during this phase of the fiuids migration fromthe swirl jet passage 31 to the discharge orifice 15 that the controljets superimpose their action upon the swirling fluid to achieve thepredetermined pattern which is a principal object of the invention.

As indicated earlier herein, the swirl jet passages 31 in theillustrative sprinkler shown in the drawings have been located along theperiphery of the control disc 28` with the control jet passages 32radially` spaced therefrom. Good results can be `achieved if the controljet passages 32 are located midway between the periphery` of 4 thedischarge orifice 15 and the inner edge of the swirl chamber 31; but inorder to adjust the distribution pattern, the location of the controljet passages 32 may be correspondingly shifted in either direction fromthis midpoint.

The diameter of the control jet passages 32 relative to the swirl jetpassages 31 can be varied to alter the distribution pattern of thespray. It has been observed in operation that a pattern more closelyresembling that of a cloverleaf can lbe achieved as the control jetdiameter is increased. On the -other hand, as the control jet diameteris decreased `from an optimal dimension, the pattern more closelyresembles a bulging square. Further it has been observed that when thecontrol and swirl jets are too close to each other, the action of thecontrol jet is substantially overriden by the action of the swirl jet.On the other hand, as the location of the control jets more closelyapproaches the central discharge orifice, they behave the same as thoughthey were in effect larger in diameter, that is, the pattern begins toassume the cloverleaf discussed above. In ygeneral the corners of thespray pattern do not coincide angularly with the control jet locationsbut are displaced at angles situated intermediate such locations. Withlarger control jet passages, however, the angular locations of thecorners of the pattern more closely approximate the actual control jetpassage locations. The results achieved, however, are independent of anytheory.

It will be appreciated that with varying sizes and materials in thesprinkler housings, varying available liuid pressures, and varyingdimensions of the control disc, along with varying viscosities of thefluids sprayed, the different sizes and locations of the control jets inrelation to the swirl jets may be determined empirically until anoptimum is achieved. If three control jets instead of four are used, atriangular pattern can -be achieved with the sprinkler shown in thedrawings.

'In Figs. 1 through 5, and l0, the invention has been shown as embodiedin a sprinkler for use on lawns, gardens, and the like. There is n'ointent to limit the invention to such usages, and as will be seen, thesprinkler head can Ibe adapted for other usages in fixed installa tions,as well as for discharge downwardly or also horizontally and any midwaypositions.

Referring now to Fig. 6, there is shown an installation of a permanenttype sprinkler head 11a. The permanent sprinkler heads are arranged sothat their distribution pattern overlaps slightly in such as would bedesirable in a warehouse fire protection system. Naturally, thesprinkler heads 11a can be arranged closer together to achieve anoverlap for wall wetting if desired. In addition, in a smaller room, thesprinkler heads may be located in the wall so that they will blanketadditional areas in cooperation with ceiling sprinklers if they areused.

Referring now in greater detail to Fig. 7, a sprinkler head 11a of thetype shown in the installation illustrated in Fig. 6 is there detailed.An inlet 17a is provided at the extremity of the permanent sprinklerhead and may be conveniently fixed into a pipe T as shown. In greaterdetail, it will be seen in Fig. 8 that the internal position of thepermanent sprinkler head retains the principal structural features ofthe lawn sprinkler head. The inlet 17a brings the water into a supplychannel 29a from which it departs in a swirling action through thehelical swirl jet passages 31a into the swirl chamber 30a. Controlpassages 32a, and their relation to the swirl jet passages 31a, are moreclearly shown in the enlarged perspective view of the control element28a which appears in Fig. l1. The discharge orifice 15a is located inthe central portion of the swirl chamber 30a. It has chamfered dischargeedges 16a provided at angles to suitably modify the discharge inaccordance with the users wishes.

Fig. 12 illustrates another modification of the invention in the form ofa separate density adjustment screw 35a. A slot 36a is provided in thetop portion of the con- S trol element 28a allowing the user to increaseor decrease the volume of fluid in the swirl chamber 30a by rotating thecontrol element 28a on the threads of screw 35a. It is of coursepossible, but not shown, to provide means for also adjusting the controljet passages 32a with relation to the swirl jet passages 31a. Means foradjusting al1 of the variable factors described above affecting thepattern of the spray fall within the purview of this invention.

It is additionally contemplated that a spray nozzle, made in accordancewith the present invention, could also be used in a side-mountedposition in a dish washer, sending its spray uniformly throughout theentire inside area. In order to compensate for gravitational effects, apair of the control jet locations in such an installation maynecessarily have to be kmoved with relation to the discharge orifice.Such adjustments may be determined empirically for the particularinstallation.

While the invention is susceptible of various modications andalternative constructions, certain preferred embodiments have been shownin the drawings and described above in considerable detail. It should beunderstood, however, that there is no intention to limit the inventionto the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention isto cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalentsfalling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in theappended claims.

I claim as my invention:

l. A sprinkler head for distributing fiuid in a spray pattern having aplurality of corners, said head comprising, in combination, a hollowhousing having a discharge orifice in one wall thereof, a control discsituated within said housing and dividing the interior of the latterinto a supply chamber and a relatively fiat swirl chamber communicatingwith one another at the periphery of said control disc, the swirlchamber being situated adjacent the discharge orifice, a hose connectionmounted on said housing and including an inlet opening communicatingwith the supply chamber for supplying pressure fluid thereto, means forimparting a swirl to the uid as it passes through the housing from thesupply chamber to the swirl chamber, and means defining pattern jetpassages in said control disc corresponding in number to the number ofcorners in said spray pattern, said pattern jet passages being situatedto discharge into the swirl chamber at relatively widely spaced pointswhich are also spaced radially from said discharge orifice and therebyto modify geometrically the pattern of spray issuing from the housingdischarge orifice.

2. A sprinkler head as defined in claim l wherein the means forimparting a swirl to the fluid comprises at least one helical channel onthe periphery of the control disc.

3. A spray shaper for distributing pressure fluid in a pattern having aplurality of corners, said spray shaper comprising, in combination, ahousing having an orifice in one face thereof, a control surface insidesaid housing defining a relatively fiat chamber communicating directlywith said orifice, passage means between said control surface and theinterior of said housing and communciating with the chamber, saidpassage means being situated in radially spaced relation to the axis ofthe orifice, means in said control surface spaced radially from saidhousing orifice for defining control jets in said chamber correspondingin number to the corners of said pattern, said control jet means beingsurrounded by the passage means, and inlet means defining a source ofpressure fluid for said passage and control jet means.

4. A sprinkler head comprising, in combination, a housing having adischarge orifice therein, a control disc dividing the inner portion ofsaid housing into swirl and supply chambers, the swirl chambercommunicating with the discharge orifice, the supply chamber having aninlet therein, hose coupling means associated with the inlet to thesupply chamber, threads on the periphery of said control disc definingswirl channels for the passage of fluid from the supply chamber to theswirl chamber, means defining a plurality of pattern jets issuing fromthe control disc in radially spaced relation to said discharge orificeand disposed to modify the pattern of spray issuing from the dischargeorifice, and a chamfered edge portion surrounding the discharge orificeto shape the trajectory of the fiuid spray issuing therefrom.

5. A discharge nozzle for use in a fire protection sprinkler system,comprising, in combination, a housing, means for admitting pressurefluid to said housing, one wall of said housing having a circulardischarge orifice for the pressure fluid, a control button mountedwithin said housing and defining a swirl chamber between the controlbutton and said one wall of said housing, the discharge orice beingspaced from said control button by an amount less than the diameter ofsaid swirl chamber, four control jet means in said control buttonlocated equidistant the axis of said discharge orifice, and swirl jetmeans located between said control jet means and the sides of said swirlchamber.

6. A discharge nozzle for use in a fire protection sprinkler system,comprising, in combination, a housing, inlet means for admittingpressure uid to said housing, one wall of said housing having adischarge orifice for the pressure fluid, a control surface within saidhousing defining a swirl chamber between the control surface and saidone wall of said housing, the discharge orifice being spaced from saidcontrol surface by an amount less than the diameter of said controlsurface, control jet means located coaXially and concentrically withsaid discharge orifice and on said control surface, supply jet meanslocated outward of said control jets, said inlet means supplyingpressure fiuid to said control and supply jets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

